One Witch's Wonderland: May 2011

Just have to share this...

    For those of you who don't know, my mother is a Jehovah's Witness. I was raised to be, but the Great Goddess was in my heart from day one, so that didn't work out so well! Anyways, we were talking the other day and she was telling me about a conversation I just have to share with all of you.

    Apparently, she and a group from her Kingdom Hall (their church) were doing their door to door work when one of the women in the group noticed a Pentacle on the property or door or something of one of the houses and said she was afraid to go to the door. The woman said she hated going to door like that because the people were scary. My mom said, and I quote: "I'll take a Pagan over a Born Again any day!" and happily took the door for her.

    She said when she got back in the car the lady asked her why she was so happy to take that door knowing their could be a witch behind it. And my mother said "Because Pagans know the Christian faith better than Christians do." She said she went on to tell the woman that while Christians claim to know what their bible says that most of them have rarely read it beyond the popular scriptures or readings done in church. Pagans on the other hand not only know what is in the Bible, but know the history behind it and behind the Church and Religion which came out of it.

    As a Pagan, I would have to agree with her. I have gotten in to many a biblical debates with Christians, and known the Bible better than they do. That said, I have to give credit to my mother for that - Although not so happily. There is a great deal of religious contention between my family and I but compliments like that one show me that at least someone is opening their eyes to the fact that Pagans aren't Cat Sacrificing, Devil Worshipers who will beat up old ladies and rape children - as I've been told in some forums... Even if that person does still believe her Pagan daughter is doomed - at least she knows we aren't all crazy!

Top 25 Faith Blogs by Moms

Hey all, for those of you who haven't seen this yet, Circle of Mom's is building a list of the top 25 Faith based Mommy Blogs. And amidst all the mainstream moms there are those of us who walk different paths, Pagan Paths.

Now, here's my selfish and rather arrogant wish, that we could ALL be in that top 25! Now, voting runs through Jun 8, 2011 at 5pm PST and you are able to vote and re-vote daily for as many blogs as you wish. (One vote per blog per day.) So, please support us Pagan Mommy Bloggers and vote us up!!!

So, why are you still here? Go Vote!

A Pagan Timeline

Pagan history is hard to really sum up. Because All pre-Christian religions with the exception of Judism are technically Pagan, it's hard to say this is what was believed... Because they all held different beliefs. But, we know some basics and that's where I will really focus.

Below you will find a basic time-line of paganism and see how it progresses through the years...

2000 BC	Babylon's Code of Hammurabi instructs, "If a man has laid a charge of witchcraft and has not justified it, he upon whom the witchcraft is laid shall go to the holy river; he shall plunge into the holy river and if the holy river overcome him, he who accused him shall take to himself his house."
3rd cent. AD	Under the pre-Christian Roman Empire, punishment of burning alive was enacted by the State against witches who brought about another person's death through their enchantments.
306 AD	The Christian Council of Elvira (Canon 6) refuses last rites to those who had killed a man by a magical spell because such a crime could not be effected "without idolatry" (i.e. the help of the devil).
313	Conversion of Emperor Constantine; Christianity is granted official toleration by the Roman Empire.
314	Canon 24 of the Council of Ancyra imposes five years of penance upon those who consult magicians. Here, the offense lies in participation in paganism.
785	The Council of Paderborn rules that sorcerers are to be reduced to serfdom and made over to the service of the Church.
906	The document De ecclesiasticis disciplinis ascribed to Regino of Prüm describes popular notions of witchcraft and states it is the duty of priests to "instruct the people that these things are absolutely untrue and that such imaginings are planted in the minds of mis-believing folk, not by a Divine spirit, but by the spirit of evil."
1080	Pope Gregory VII writes a letter to King Harold of Denmark forbidding witches to be put to death upon presumption of their having caused storms, failure of crops or pestilence.
1225	In Germany, the secular law code "Sachsenspiegel" designated death by fire as the proper punishment for witchcraft.
1258	Pope Alexander IV instructs, "The Inquisitors, deputed to investigate heresy, must not intrude into investigations of divination or sorcery without knowledge of manifest heresy involved." "Manifest heresy" is defined as: "praying at the altars of idols, to offer sacrifices, to consult demons, to elicit responses from them... or associate themselves publicly with heretics."
1275	The first "witch" is burned to death after judicial sentence of an inquisitor, in Toulouse, France. Her name was Hugues de Baniol and she "confessed" to having given birth to a monster after intercourse with an evil spirit and to having nourished it with babies' flesh which she procured in her nocturnal expeditions.
1300-30	Beginning of the witch trials in Europe.
1334	Large-scale witch trial in Toulouse, France, in which 63 persons were accused. Of these, eight were handed over to the state to be burned and the rest were imprisoned.
1374	Pope Gregory XI declares that all magic is done with the aid of demons and thus is open to prosecution for heresy.
1400	Peter de Gruyères, a secular judge, carries out large-scale witch trials in Bern, Switzerland.
1435-50	Number of witch trails rises sharply.
1484	Pope Innocent VIII publishes the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus ("Desiring with the Greatest Ardor") condemning witchcraft as Satanism, the worst of all possible heresies. The bull also officially grants Heinrich Krämer and James Sprenger, Dominican inquisitors, the right to prosecute persons of any class or any form of crime.
1486	Heinrich Krämer and Jacob Sprenger publish Malleus maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches"), a learned but misogynistic book blaming witchcraft chiefly on women. It was reprinted many times thanks to the newly-invented printing press and was a major influence on the witch-hunt hysteria of the next two centuries. It was regarded as the standard handbook on witchcraft until well into the 18th century.
1530s	Prosecutions for witchcraft begin in Mexico.
1532	The penal code Carolina decrees that sorcery throughout the German empire should be treated as a criminal offense, and if it injured any person, the witch was to be burned at the stake.
1572	The Protestant ruler of Saxony imposes the penalty of burning for witchcraft of every kind, including fortune-telling.
1580-1630	Period in which witch-hunts are most severe.
1583	121 persons are burned as witches over three months in Osnabruck, Germany.
1590	Witch trials in North Berwick, Scotland.
1609	In response to a witch panic in the Basque region, La Suprema (the ruling body of the Spanish Inquisition) issues an "Edict of Silence" forbidding all discussion of witchcraft. For, as one inquisitor noted, "There were neither witches nor bewitched until they were talked and written about."
1631	The Jesuit Friedrich von Spee publishes Cautio criminalis against the witch craze.
1647	First hanging for witchcraft in New England.
1668-76	Outbreak of witch-hunts in Sweden.
1692	Between May and October, 19 people are tried and hanged as witches in Salem, Massachusetts.
1749	The last trial for witchcraft in Germany is carried out at Würzburg.
1754	Torture is abolished in Prussia.
1782	Last known execution for witchcraft takes place in Switzerland, in the Protestant canton of Glarus.
1807	Torture is abolished in Bavaria.
1822	Torture is abolished in Hanover.
1875	Birth of Aleister Crowley, occultist who influenced Gerald Gardner.
1885	Birth of Gerald Gardner, founder of Wicca.
1890s	Aleister Crowley joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, of which William Butler Yeats was also a member.
1899	Charles Godfrey Leland publishes Aradia or the Goddess of the Witches.
1910	Crowley meets a leader of German Masonic order called the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), a combination of Masonic rites and the traditions of the Rosicrucians, the Templars, the Illuminists, and Bengali Tantrism. Crowley was soon initiated into the order and progressing through the degrees of the order.
1912	Crowley is named Grand Master of the O.T.O. for Great Britain and Ireland.
1921	Margaret Murray published The Witch-Cult in Western Europe.
1926	Birth of Alexander Sanders, founder of Alexandrian Wicca.
1929	Margaret Murray published her article “Witchcraft” in the 14th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica.
1939	The O.T.O. in Germany is effectively dissolved by the Nazis.
1939	Gardner joins the Folklore Society and presents a paper on witchcraft.
1939	The year Gerald Gardner claims he was initiated into a witch cult called the New Forest Coven, led by Dorothy Clutterbuck.
1940	Zsuzsanna Budapest, feminist writer and leader of Dianic Wicca, is born on January 30.
1940s	Gardner joins the nudist group The Fiveacres Country Club.
1946	Gardner begins work on High Magic's Aid, a fictional novel partially based on those of his Southern Coven. The witches of his coven opposed making their rituals public, which is why it was presented as fiction and filled out with rituals from other sources.
1947	Gardner and Edith Woodford-Grimes start a company called Ancient Crafts Ltd.
1947	Gardner meets Crowley at Crowley's home in Hastings for the first time on May 1, and visits him again several times during May.
1947	Gardner becomes a member of the O.T.O. in May and is authorized by Crowley to found an O.T.O. encampment and initiate new members.
1947	Crowley dies on December 1.
1947	On December 27, Gardner writes a letter claiming to have been designated as successor to Crowley as leader of the O.T.O. Karl Germer assumed leadership instead, and held it until his death in 1962.
1949	Gerald Gardner publishes High Magic's Aid under the pseudonym Scire.
1950	Gardner begins distancing himself from Crowley and the O.T.O. in favor of Wicca.
1950	Gardner states in a letter that Crowley had participated in the witch cult but left in disgust due to the leadership of the High Priestess and the nudity.
1951	Gardner founds the "Northern Coven" in London and holds a small rite at his home near the British Museum on May Eve.
1953	Doreen Valiente is initated by Gardner, and soon became High Priestess.
1954	Gardner publishes Witchcraft Today, an event which many regard as the founding of Wicca.
1957	Wicca splits into two factions, one that supports Gardner's growing publicity of the religion (led by Gardner) and one that opposes it (led by Doreen Valiente).
1959	Gardner publishes The Meaning of Witchcraft, in which he first uses the term "Wicca."
1963-64	Gardner winters in Lebanon to help his failing health.
1964	Gardner dies of heart failure on the SS Scottish Prince in the Mediterranean. His body is buried at the next port of call, Tunis.
1989	Valiente publishes The Rebirth of Witchcraft, a first-hand account of the history and development of Wicca.
1991 2007	Aiden A. Kelly publishes Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I, which aims to show that Gardner's Book of Shadows could be entirely traced to earlier sources. The U.S. Veterans Administration approves the Pentagram as a symbol permitted on headstones for fallen soldiers in military cemeteries.

The Wiccan Rede (full version)

Bide within the Law you must, in perfect Love and perfect Trust.
Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give.

For tread the Circle thrice about to keep unwelcome spirits out.
To bind the spell well every time, let the spell be said in rhyme.

Light of eye and soft of touch, speak you little, listen much.
Honor the Old Ones in deed and name,
let love and light be our guides again.

Deosil go by the waxing moon, chanting out the joyful tune.
Widdershins go when the moon doth wane,
and the werewolf howls by the dread wolfsbane.

When the Lady's moon is new, kiss the hand to Her times two.
When the moon rides at Her peak then your heart's desire seek.

Heed the North winds mighty gale, lock the door and trim the sail.
When the Wind blows from the East, expect the new and set the feast.

When the wind comes from the South, love will kiss you on the mouth.
When the wind whispers from the West, all hearts will find peace and rest.

Nine woods in the Cauldron go, burn them fast and burn them slow.
Birch in the fire goes to represent what the Lady knows.

Oak in the forest towers with might, in the fire it brings the God's
insight. Rowan is a tree of power causing life and magick to flower.

Willows at the waterside stand ready to help us to the Summerland.
Hawthorn is burned to purify and to draw faerie to your eye.

Hazel-the tree of wisdom and learning adds its strength to the bright fire burning.
White are the flowers of Apple tree that brings us fruits of fertility.

Grapes grow upon the vine giving us both joy and wine.
Fir does mark the evergreen to represent immortality seen.

Elder is the Lady's tree burn it not or cursed you'll be.
Four times the Major Sabbats mark in the light and in the dark.

As the old year starts to wane the new begins, it's now Samhain.
When the time for Imbolc shows watch for flowers through the snows.

When the wheel begins to turn soon the Beltane fires will burn.
As the wheel turns to Lamas night power is brought to magick rite.

Four times the Minor Sabbats fall use the Sun to mark them all.
When the wheel has turned to Yule light the log the Horned One rules.

In the spring, when night equals day time for Ostara to come our way.
When the Sun has reached it's height time for Oak and Holly to fight.

Harvesting comes to one and all when the Autumn Equinox does fall.
Heed the flower, bush, and tree by the Lady blessed you'll be.

Where the rippling waters go cast a stone, the truth you'll know.
When you have and hold a need, harken not to others greed.

With a fool no season spend or be counted as his friend.
Merry Meet and Merry Part bright the cheeks and warm the heart.

Mind the Three-fold Laws you should three times bad and three times good.
When misfortune is enow wear the star upon your brow.

Be true in love this you must do unless your love is false to you.

These Eight words the Rede fulfill:

"An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"

Flower Moon

Once April's rains and winds have subsided, the sun begins to warm up the earth and we're able to get the gardens planted. Typically, May is the month we begin to sow our crops. Get out in the garden under a Flower Moon and put your hands into the soil. Spring is a time of fertility, and May is a fiery month indeed -- full of lust and passion! It's sometimes called the month of the Hare Moon -- and we all know what hares are busy doing in the spring.

Correspondences:

Colors: Red, orange, yellow
Gemstones: Ruby, garnet, amber, Apache tear
Trees: Hawthorn, rowan
Gods: Kali, Priapus, Cernunnos, Flora
Herbs: Cinnamon, members of the mint family
Element: Fire

This is a good time to work on magic related to careers and jobs. Thinking about switching to a new position, or perhaps trying a new field altogether? Want to take a class or get your degree? Take the seeds you've planted last month, and allow them to bloom and grow in your favor. Do some fire divination this month to help guide you on your way.

Also Known As: Hare Moon